Coral Shaffer, owner of enamelworksupply.com, has written a very clear instructional on texturing foil. You can find it at http://www.enamelworksupply.com/recentarticles.html .
It is important to realize that foil is thicker than leaf, and the problems with the texture collapsing might come from using the thinner leaf. Coral talks about how, when you put the textured foil over a layer of fired enamel and then refire, the molten enamel is drawn up into the recesses formed by the foil. It is easy to imagine how if you used flimsy leaf it would just collapse during this process.
Coral sells Ginbari foil--silver foil--on her website and I believe most people who texture gold make their own foil with a rolling mill. How thick? I bet the answer is "Personal preference." You know how it is with enameling...we all do our own thing!
Hope this helps...
Vera you were a life saver. Didn't realize that Coral had so much info on her site. Thanks!
I don't have a roller and am finding it impossiblet to texture my foil. Even if I do get a texture by pressing into a texture plate, once I put down the Klyr Fire mixture the foil goes flat. Is there anyone working with foils and transparent enamels that can help me?